Loop last toured in 1991. That was a long fucking time ago. I missed them when they played at the infamous Rat in Boston back then, so now I had a chance to atone for my sins. But first, the openers are deserving of a mention...

Doug Tuttle opened up the show. This was a five-piece band, but I'm not sure which one was Doug. Pretty cool stuff, very 60's inspired psych/pop, vocals were very prominent. This wasn't really the freak-out kind of psych where everyone visits another planet for the whole set, definitely more of a melodic and jangly vibe (one of the guitarists was playing an acoustic). Kind of relaxing, in a way, and a good start to the night.

Ghost Box Orchestra were second on the bill. They're a local five-piece who sound a lot like old Loop, which is a plus in my Book of Things That Are Good. Kind of heavy, but not crushing. Some really cool stuff going on here, more jamming and noise freak-outs than the previous band. We're definitely starting to leave the Milky Way here. Heavy, throbbing bass lines and a solid drummer allowed the two guitarists and keyboardist to roam the outer reaches of space, building impressive sonic architecture. Will definitely check out again, and if you have the chance I'd recommend you go see them.

As mentioned earlier, Loop haven't toured since 1991, back when they looked like longhaired burnouts who could've given any band of hairfarmers from Seattle a run for their money in the follicle sweepstakes. Twenty three years later they look like a bunch of dads, all refined haircuts and button-up shirts, which is totally and completely fine, as long as they sound the way they did back in '91. And they do. I mean, this was it. The Loop sound right here, live. Robert Hampson's vocals buried under waves of distortion and insistent drumming. I still, to this day, have no idea what 90% of the lyrics to these songs are, but it doesn't matter, it's all about the sound. They haven't lost a step since the early 90's. Some highlights for me included "Vapour", "The Nail Will Burn", and "Straight to Your Heart", but the whole set sounded great. Droning guitar chords, bursts of soloing by Hampson, a machine-like drummer, and a bass player who just held it all down with his back to the audience for pretty much the whole set, because he's got a job to do. A Gilded Eternity is one of my all-time favorite albums, so it was great to finally be able to experience these songs live in person, and they did not disappoint. Shit, twenty three years? It sounded like 1991 all over again. In a good way.